1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a motherboard, and more particularly to an erasing control circuit of an environment configuration memory in a motherboard.
2. Description of the Related Art
The motherboard in a computer system has environment configuration memory for storing operational environment settings such as peripheral equipment types and addresses thereof, and power management settings when the computer system is turned on. In order that the computer reserves its setting values after shut down and remains original operational environment settings as restarted, the motherboard uses generally a battery to supply backup power after the computer is turned off so as to maintain operational environment settings in the environment configuration memory. On the other hand, the operational environment settings are erased from the environment configuration memory so as to re-load in preset operation environment settings into a basic input/output system (BIOS) of the motherboard, or to restart the computer as the computer crashes.
A conventional method for erasing environment configuration memory is performed by using an erasing circuit. The erasing circuit connects a power pin of the environment configuration memory to a ground voltage by a jump so as to discharge the environment configuration memory and thus erase its operational environment settings. Therefore, to erase the environment configuration memory, the user has to switch off the power source, open the computer housing and find out the corresponding jump circuit. This kind of design is very inconvenient for the users who do not understand computers.